A toothbrush is used to clean the teeth by removing plaque and debris from the tooth surfaces. Conventional toothbrushes having a flat bristle trim are limited in their ability to conform to the curvature of the teeth, to penetrate into the interproximal areas between the teeth, to sweep away the plaque and debris, and to clean along the gum line. Additionally, such toothbrushes have a limited ability to retain dentifrice for cleaning the teeth. During the brushing process, the dentifrice typically slips through the tufts of bristles and away from the contact between the bristles and the teeth. As a result, the dentifrice is often spread around the mouth, rather than being concentrated on the contact of the bristles with the teeth. Therefore, the efficiency of the cleaning process is reduced.
While substantial efforts have been made to modify the cleaning elements of toothbrushes to improve the efficiency of the oral cleaning process, the industry continues to pursue arrangements of cleaning elements that will improve upon the existing technology.
More recently, the strategic arrangement and combination of tooth cleaning elements in the form of elastomeric cleaning elements and bristle tufts has become a more common way of improving cleaning efficiency. However, very little efforts have been made to coordinate the structure and arrangement of elastomeric cleaning elements on flexible toothbrush heads formed by a plurality of segments.
Elastomeric soft tissue cleaners, which are typically located on the rear surface of the toothbrush head, have also become quite popular. However, as with the tooth cleaning elements, very little effort has been expended to coordinate the structure of the soft tissue cleaner with the structure of flexible toothbrush heads utilizing a plurality of segments.
Thus, an improved oral care instrument is needed to address these issues.